In recent years I’ve taken to “pimping out” my new and old watches, some of them military watches, by replacing their original straps with colorful NATO straps. New releases from recent Baselworld watch fairs indicate that I may have helped start a trend: many new watches now have these military-style cloth straps as original equipment. In this article, I showcase 10 of these watches.
I started swapping out original straps for NATO straps a few years ago. At first, I purchased the straps from the Australian website www.natostrap.com. These days, I mostly buy them at MisterChrono, a retailer at 23, Rue Danielle Casanova near Place Vendôme in Paris, or online at the shop’s website, www.misterchrono.com.
I do not want to claim that my affinity for NATO straps influenced some of the product managers of these well-known watch brands, but who knows" In the case of at least one brand, I can claim some direct responsibility for the decision to use this type of strap: Blancpain’s Marc Hayek saw me wearing one in a meeting and decided on the spot that the brand would start using them. (One of those Blancpain watches is shown below.) Where does the NATO strap come from and where did it get its name" Here’s a little bit of history for you:
The original NATO watch straps were created by Great Britain?s Ministry of Defence in the early 1970s and in 1973; they became part of the standard equipment available to British soldiers. They took thei...